YP Letters: No going back, but be prepared for rocky road to Brexit

As a cautious individual I was always going to be a nailed-on Remainer. That is not to say that I was impervious to the views of Brexiteers who were much more politically aware than me: “if so-and-so thinks it is a good idea there must be something in it”.

Yet surely it was plain that whatever the ultimate merits of leaving the EU, it was never going to be straightforward. A candid member of the audience on BBC’s Question Time said he had not changed his mind but he hadn’t expected it to be such a messy drawn-out process.

There can be no going back nor should there be: were we to backtrack now with a loss of face and a Prime Minister with diminished credibility, we would be in a much weaker position than before.

Surely, though, sometimes change is simply not worth the trouble. For all its faults of bureaucracy and alleged corruption, the EU is not killing or torturing people or even abusing basic human rights such as is happening in other parts of the world. If it were an ethical issue, that would be different.

It should be of concern that our Prime Minister and senior politicians are so distracted when there are rumblings abroad that could lead to the gravest situation since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

From: Tim Mickleburgh, Boulevard Avenue, Grimsby.

It is disgusting that we are to stay in the Single Market for a while even after we officially leave the EU. And it is equally obnoxious that we will continue to pay a multi-billion pound membership to them. We voted for Brexit, and should have Brexit.

From: Don Burslam, Elm Road, Dewsbury Moor, Dewsbury.

I saw Mr McDonnell’s speech at the Labour conference with increasing disbelief. After the abject failures of the state to run various industries over the years, the idea that a fresh dose of nationalisation is the cure for all our ills is a recipe for disaster.

The proposal is to take water, energy, rail and the Royal Mail back under the wing of the state and this on top of our expected economic difficulties after our exit from the EU.

To plunge us into such expensive administrative changes would be ill-timed to say the least and postpone our long awaited recovery from indebtedness.

I can think of nothing more calculated to send the market into freefall. Never mind, we could always devalue the pound again.